Passenger denies groping TSA screener

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LONGMONT, Colo., July 17 (UPI) -- A Colorado air passenger is denying police charges that she groped a security screener at the Phoenix airport.

Yukari Miyamae, 61, of Longmont, Colo., was arrested Thursday after she argued with a Transportation Security Administration worker at Sky Harbor International Airport and refused to be screened, Sgt. Steve Martos of the Phoenix police told The Arizona Republic.

The arrest report says she grabbed TSA agent Barbara O'Toole's "left breast through her clothing … squeezing and twisting it with both hands without the victim's permission," KDVR-TV, Denver, reported.

Miyamae, released from the Maricopa County Jail Friday, faces a felony sexual abuse charge.

Police said Miyamae admitted the assault, but she denied that to the New York Post in an interview from her home Saturday. "I go through this every week, and every week there is some problem," said the frequent traveler.

The Department of Homeland Security said it "will not tolerate assaults against its workforce."